Smash it on social: five tips to cash in online

Find your thing

This is easier said than done, but if you’ve got a hobby, passion, interest or talent, make this your new identity online. Whether it’s an extreme sport, fashion, travel, food, being outdoors, or something a bit more niche, find out everything you can about your subject. Watch films, read books, meet people; fully throw yourself into whatever it is and own it.

Be different

Different is good on social media – you need to stand out, especially now the various platforms are so saturated. Being unique will give you an edge over the other hundreds of thousands trying to cash in on it too. It’s worked for Insta accounts like waverider_ with 1.3m followers (comic recreations of famous celeb pics), fashiondads 188k (highlighting the fashion crimes of our elders and, er, betters) and mydaywithleo 168k (like AR art; take a look).

Get engaged

So you’ve created a sick profile, but it means nothing without the numbers. 10,000 followers is the dream digit in the Instagram game; once you reach it you can start charging brands for posts (starting at around £200 a post, but this can go up to anything close to £40,000 for big-time influencers). But don’t think buying followers
is the shortcut to making it. Brands want legit engagement – the more genuine likes and comments you get, the more chance they have that your community will buy whatever they’re selling.

Get your business hat on

We didn’t say any of this was going to be easy. Success takes a lot of time, commitment and hard work, just ask adventurer Gaby James (above). Once you’re getting good engagement and want to approach brands for collaborations, it might be time to get a social media agent (yep, that’s a real thing).

It’s better IRL

Running a successful social account is like running a business; there’ll be ups and downs. But if you have fun with it – go out, live it, do things you enjoy – you can then document what you’re up to online. Win, win.